


Mr Crieff

by LokiOfSassgaard



Category: Cabin Pressure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-23
Updated: 2012-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 06:22:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6318145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokiOfSassgaard/pseuds/LokiOfSassgaard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin comes from a long line of prideful gits, it would seem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mr Crieff

Martin's father doesn't sound anything like the cockney geezer he's made out to be whenever Martin imitates him in conversation. In fact, he sounds even more public school than Martin does. Between this, and the fact that Martin has spent the last two years telling everyone that his father is dead, no-one thinks twice when MJN's latest client boards Gertie.

Martin doesn't give any indication that he knows Mr Thomas Crieff, and when asked, he points out that it's not an entirely uncommon name. This gets Arthur on a tangent about distant relatives, and how he's sort-of-but-not-really related to the guy who does the BT adverts these days, and the subject of their client is forgotten.

They pick up Thomas Crieff in Kirkwall in the Orkneys as the sort of emergency flight that MJN specialise in, after a bird strike grounded the Cessna he had initially chartered. Or so goes the story. Martin largely ignores him, makes the most formal of cabin addresses, and spends much of the short flight in a tense silence. Douglas figures this is just Martin being his usual nervous self when faced with people who have had moderate success in his life and it's business as usual as he irritates and annoys his captain by winning a round of Classic Literature Improved by an Ostrich.

Odder still than Thomas Crieff's surname or Martin's behaviour is their destination. Carolyn's thrilled, of course, because it means they save on fuel and landing fees, but Douglas does find it rather convenient that their client wants to go to Fitton, of all places. Martin completely fails to see why this is in any way interesting or unusual. Fitton isn't exactly out of the way, and is just a short trip to London. Maybe Thomas Crieff knows that London is expensive to land in and is being considerate toward the tiny company he chartered to return him to England.

If Douglas disagrees, he doesn't say anything.

Even after they land, Martin is still oddly quiet. It's nothing unusual for him to stay late to double and triple check everything, and occasionally even help clean up Gertie. It's always obvious when Martin's skint — worse off than usual, that is. He resists going home, because he's too damn honest to take anything from the shared fridge that isn't his. Whether he's worked out or not that packets of crisps don't just materialise around the Portakabin is never discussed. In an uncharacteristic altruistic mood, Douglas once tried leaving a £20 note just dropped on the floor, but that honest, prideful son of a bitch returned it the next day.

Douglas figures it's just another case of not enough van jobs and leaves Martin to it, making a detour to what passes for a canteen to grab some things from a poorly-stocked vending machine. He hangs around, waiting for a believable amount of time to pass before going back to the office to claim to have forgotten something.

He doesn't make it back to the Portakabin. Instead, he notices that the cabin lights are on in Gertie, when he very much remembers having made sure everything was switched off in there. Something is clearly up, and Douglas is going to find out what.

Not only are her lights still on, but the stairs are lowered and someone is definitely inside. As he quietly makes his way into the galley, he can hear the stowaways talking, at least one of them keeping his voice at a level suggesting he would very much like to be shouting the roof down, but is trying to remain quiet.

"Why are you even here? There are a million other airlines you could have hired. Why this one?"

"I would have thought that was obvious."

It's Martin and Mr Crieff, Douglas realises, and at once he knows that he's listening in on something deeply private, though he still hasn't made the connection. He has no reason to think Martin would lie about something like that, so the thought is still miles from crossing his mind.

"Why couldn't you just stay away?" asks Martin, and even from where he's standing Douglas can hear the strain in his voice as he struggles to keep calm. "You've been doing a fine job at it up until now."

"Up until now, I had no idea where you were."

"Maybe I wanted to keep it that way." Martin suddenly sounds very young, and he rather reminds Douglas of Darla when she doesn't get her way. Petulance doesn't suit Martin.

"Just come home. If not for me, than for your mother."

Oh. Oh. Suddenly, Douglas finds himself feeling very stupid, which isn't something that happens often. Martin had managed to pull one over on him. While he's usually beyond rubbish at maintaining a lie, he managed to keep this one going. Though, when Douglas thinks about it, it does seem as though Martin's had a lot of practise with this lie. Nine years of it, if not longer.

"I don't want your money," Martin says, angry enough to let his voice raise. "I don't want your help. All I ever wanted was a little support. Would that have killed you?"

There's a brief pause, though whatever's happening between Martin and Mr Crieff, Douglas can't see it from behind the separator curtain. He begins to think he's about to be rumbled when Mr Crieff finally speaks again.

"From what I understand, it did."

There are footsteps, and now Douglas really is about to be caught out if he doesn't move quickly. He makes it as far as the tarmac before Mr Crieff appears at the top of the stairs, and Douglas knows he's busted. There's a brief moment when they both look at one another, both knowing they've been caught doing something they didn't want anyone else to know about. It's a silent agreement between the two of them to quickly go their separate ways without saying anything. Douglas doesn't see where Mr Crieff goes, but he assumes it's somewhere far away, and hopes for Martin's sake that it is. He forgets all about his subterfuge with leaving the snacks back in the Portakabin and gets into his Lexus to make his escape.

* * *

It's another week before he sees Martin, and by then he seems to have forgotten all about his unexpected reunion with his father. Douglas wants to ask him which details from the elaborate lie were true and which were embellished to fit the story Martin has made up to suit his lifestyle, but Martin gives no indication that he knows Douglas overheard the conversation. So Douglas does the only thing he can do, and in the British tradition of keeping calm and carrying on, he positively stomps Martin at a gme of Scrabble High-Score Cities and sets up an elaborate series of bets and wagers to let Martin win back some of the cheese tray. And Martin seems none the wiser.


End file.
